Hitachi TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform Named 2006 Most Valuable Product

End Users Select Hitachi Data Systems’ Offering as “Best of the Best” Disk Subsystem for Second Consecutive Year

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—July 11, 2006—Hitachi Data Systems, provider of Application Optimized Storage™ solutions and wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), today announced that the Association of Storage Networking Professionals (ASNP) and InfoStor Magazine awarded the revolutionary Hitachi TagmaStore® Universal Storage Platform the 2006 Most Valuable Product (MVP) Award for best Disk Subsystem for the second consecutive year.

Originally introduced in September 2004, and continuously upgraded, the Hitachi TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform created an entirely new paradigm of business-enabling storage technologies for the industry, and continues to change the way companies think about and approach information management across the enterprise. The TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform offers unique capabilities far beyond typical enterprise-class storage systems by powering an embedded virtualization layer capable of managing up to 32 petabytes of internal and external storage, logical partitions for the creation of secure Private Virtual Storage Machines, and sophisticated storage-agnostic remote copy that greatly simplifies business continuity, driving continued marketshare gains that have positioned Hitachi at the forefront of storage virtualization.

InfoStor Magazine is a leading monthly publication dedicated to providing more than 50,000 IT storage managers and professionals with the right decision-making information to evaluate, specify, integrate and manage enterprise storage products and technologies.

“InfoStor congratulates Hitachi Data Systems on winning the MVP Award for the second consecutive time in the Disk Subsystem category,” said Dave Simpson, editor-in-chief, InfoStor. “These awards are unique in that end users—both InfoStor’s readers and members of the ASNP—voted to determine the winners based on their own criteria.”

“Our customers across the globe are realizing the economic benefits of optimally managing and moving data seamlessly across different tiers of storage and simplifying storage management,” said Hubert Yoshida, chief technology officer, Hitachi Data Systems. “That’s because Hitachi is the only company that has effectively unlocked intelligent storage controllers from disk media, providing customers with the flexibility to optimize their applications with whichever levels of performance, scalability, capacity, and cost they choose, while still enjoying the availability and functionality of a tier one TagmaStore intelligent storage controller. With positive industry response, such as this prestigious recognition from InfoStor and the ASNP, we will continue to invest in and enhance the world’s leading universal storage services platform.”

The MVP Awards program recognizes the “best of the best” of storage networking products in the industry, as determined exclusively by storage end-users. ASNP and InfoStor Magazine selected winners in the following seven categories: compliance and retention, storage management software, backup hardware, networking equipment, disk subsystems, data protection software, and most innovative products.

About Hitachi TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform
With more than 40 percent worldwide market share and an installed base of over 3,000 intelligent virtual storage controllers, Hitachi dominates the enterprise virtualization marketplace with the unique capabilities of the TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform. The TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform enables users to externally attach heterogeneous storage systems, including those from IBM and EMC, partition storage resources to maximize application quality-of-service, move data across tiers of storage to match business needs, and achieve business continuity. As an integral component of Application Optimized Storage™ solutions from Hitachi Data Systems, the Universal Storage Platform provides the foundation for matching application requirements to different classes of storage. The Universal Storage Platform enables customers to deploy applications within a new framework, fully leverage – and add value to – current investments, and more closely align IT and business objectives.
About InfoStor Magazine

InfoStor’s 50,000 readers include IT storage managers and storage professionals in the channel, including value-added resellers (VARs), storage/systems integrators, and OEMs. For more information, please visit http://www.infostor.com.
About Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems leverages global R&D resources to develop storage solutions built on industry-leading technology with the performance, availability and scalability to maximize customers’ ROI and minimize their risk. By focusing on the customer’s perspective as we apply the best hardware, software, and services from Hitachi and our partners, we uniquely satisfy our customers’ business needs.

With approximately 2,900 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.hds.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 356,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2005 (ended March 31, 2006) consolidated sales totaled 9,464 billion yen ($80.9 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at http://www.hitachi.com.

© 2006, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. TagmaStore is a trademark of Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. All other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used herein are the rightful property of their respective owners.

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